The City of York - Day two
Today our aim is to explore more of York, using a bus ride, a walk on the wall and just walking! York has, since Roman times, been defended by walls of one form or another. To this day, substantial portions of the walls remain, and York has more miles of intact wall than any other city in England. They are known variously as York City Walls, the Bar Walls and the Roman walls (though this last is a misnomer as very little of the extant stonework is of Roman origin, and the course of the wall has been substantially altered since Roman times).
To see York it is a great idea to follow the wall trails, somehow you get a different perspective other than walking at street level.
So, to the walls we went.
The Minster from the wall walk. You certainly get a different feel of the place as you are above the general traffic.
Not sure how old this advert is but I expect quite a few years!
The walls are punctuated by four main gatehouses, or 'bars', (Bootham Bar, Monk Bar, Walmgate Bar and Micklegate Bar). These restricted traffic in medieval times, and were used to extract tolls, as well as being defensive positions in times of war.
Monk Bar is the largest and most ornate of the bars, it dates from the early 14th century. It was a self-contained fortress, with each floor capable of being defended. On the front of the bar is an arch supporting a gallery, including 'murder-holes' through which missiles and boiling water could be rained down upon attackers. But not today thankfully.
Monk Bar has the city’s only working portcullis, in use until 1970. Like the other main gateways, Monk Bar originally had a barbican on the front - demolished in 1825.
The rooms above the gateway have had various uses over the years, including as a home and as a jail for rebellious Catholics in the 16th century.
A Medieval Oven I believe.
What can one say? Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate is one of the smallest streets in York, if not the smallest. It is between Colliergate and Fossgate and intersects the Pavement and the Stonebow in York city centre. It is currently a length of raised pavement between St Crux church hall and a small road junction. First recorded in 1505 as Whitnourwhatnourgate, literally "Neither whit nor what street" (with archaic English gate, meaning street), the name could mean either "Nothing at all" or "Neither one thing nor the other. Take your pick.
The butchers of the Shambles have gone, to be replaced today by stores such as this - note the wide shelving/window sills from times past.
Cliffords Tower, York
Inside Cliffords Tower
One of the worst anti-Semitic massacres of the Middle Ages took place in York in 1190. The city’s entire Jewish community was trapped by an angry mob inside the tower of York Castle. Many members of the community chose to commit suicide rather than be murdered or forcibly baptised by the attackers. See HERE for a fuller version.
Although Walmgate is the only bar to retain its barbican, portcullis and inner doors, it has had a more torrid history than the other bars. It was burned by rebels in 1489 and battered by cannon during the siege of 1644. Until the late 19th century each of the 4 main bars had a barbican (an outer wall and gateway) just like this one that survives at Walmgate.
Micklegate Bar was the most important of York’s four main medieval gateways and the focus for grand events. The name comes from 'Micklelith', meaning great street.
It was the main entrance to the city for anyone arriving from the South. At least half a dozen reigning monarchs have passed through this gate and by tradition they stop here to ask the Lord Mayor's permission to enter the city.
The lower section of the bar dates from the 12th century, the top two storeys from the 14th. The building was inhabited from 1196. Like the other main gates, Micklegate Bar originally had a barbican built on the front, in this case demolished in 1826.
For centuries the severed heads of rebels and traitors were displayed above the gate, the many victims include Sir Henry Purcey (Hotspur) in 1403 and Richard, Duke of York in 1460. The last of the severed heads was removed in 1754. Barbaric days!
A street view of the Minster
The famous Stonegate Devil
Number 35 Stonegate is an historic building with an interesting heritage. The timber frontage dates back to the 15th century. In 1682 Francis Hilyard opened his famous bookshop The Sign Of The Bible there.
The building became known as the House of the Bible, with a distinctive wooden bible still hanging over the front door.
Outside York Minster is this famous statue. Constantine, a usurper from York, was a man who went on to change the world. Constantinople, or Constantine's City (Istanbul) was his new and Christian Rome. His support for Christianity led to it becoming the religion of Western Europe.
Yet Constantine is also an unlikeable man. A marble head of Constantine found in Stonegate (now in the Yorkshire Museum) contrasts sharply with the modern statue outside York Minster. Rather than an effete and relaxed fop as he is portrayed today, the Roman version shows him with alert staring eyes - the military leader and far seeing reformer, the man who would later have one of his own sons executed.
The site of Constantine's elevation was long remembered and two centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire, in AD627 King Edwin of Northumbria, newly converted to Christianity from paganism, built the first church dedicated to St. Peter on the ruins of the Roman principia. That seventh-century church was the first Minster, the forerunner of the great cathedral that dominates York today. Such a choice of site was surely no coincidence and later legends built on York's Constantinian connection.
Another great day and still plenty to see in York - well worth a second visit sometime?
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